The Special Court on Sunday convicted former lawmaker and promoter of Civil Savings and Credit Cooperative Limited Ichchha Raj Tamang of money laundering.

In September 2022, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation had filed a case at the Special Court against six people including Tamang, his wife Srijana Shakya, two daughters, and two of his relatives (then chairperson of Cooperative, Keshav Lal Shrestha, and his wife Bina Shrestha).

A joint bench of Special Court Chairperson Tek Narayan Kunwar and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Murari Babu Shrestha held three of the six accused guilty of money laundering.

“The court convicted Tamang, his wife Srijana Shakya and Keshav Lal Shrestha for money laundering,” said Special Court spokesperson Dhan Bahadur Karki. “The court acquitted Tamang’s two daughters while Bina Shrestha was made a defendant only for the confiscation of property and the bench was silent on her.”

He said the court would announce the penalty to be imposed on the convicted people after a hearing scheduled for February 4. The court will also decide Bina Shrestha’s case the same day.

The court determines the penalty in cases where the convicted persons are subject to jail terms of over three years.

The anti-money laundering department had sought Rs3.32 billion in claims from Tamang for money laundering as well as the confiscation of the plots of lands and shares in several companies citing that the source of his income could not be established.

Tamang also faces a fraud case at the District Court, Kathmandu as he has been accused of misappropriating billions of rupees of general public’s money from Civil Cooperatives that he ran.

In December 2021, the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu had registered a fraud case at the District Court, Kathmandu against 42 persons including Tamang with a claim of Rs5.59 billion.

Over 1,500 people had lodged complaints against Tamang stating that they had fallen victim to fraudulent activities of Tamang and his associates at the cooperative.